Approximately 3,000 kindergarteners this Thursday will hoist their backpacks over their shoulders and set out on a thrilling new adventure. Across Sarasota County, around 42,000 other students, having reached a new plateau, will continue to progress along this most consequential of journeys. 

A new school year is an exciting time. Kids are eager to see their friends again and meet their new teachers. Schools are bustling with activity as teachers prepare their classrooms and plan amazing lessons for the coming months while support staff and administrators prepare schools to welcome in the next generation.

While each new school year is full of anticipation, there are significant challenges in education today. Students are facing a well-documented mental health crisis, and schools across the nation face a teacher shortage. That certainly is the case in Sarasota County, with 115 certified positions open as of Aug. 1, just nine days before the school year begins. At the same time, nationwide, reading, math and civics scores have stagnated or declined.

Challenges such as these threaten to hinder the success of students, limiting the pathways they can follow after graduating high school. These challenges are complex and will require bold thinking from all sides of the education debate and from many sectors across our community.

On Tuesday, Aug. 15, the Education Foundation of Sarasota County will embark on a new adventure too—a podcast called Education Conversations. We’re launching this podcast because, as I suggested, there are few, if any, journeys young people make that are more consequential than the one from kindergarten through 12th grade. The success of each and every student throughout this journey profoundly affects how they step into their adult lives.

I believe all students deserve to step confidently and intentionally into their lives after graduating, equipped to succeed and reach their full potential. That requires a healthy, thriving educational ecosystem—which is at the heart of all our work at the Education Foundation.  

Today, education is at a crossroads. There are no easy fixes to the many complex problems, and it will take all of us sharing our perspectives and ideas for the collective good of students. That is why dialogue is so important and why I’m so excited about this podcast.

Twice a month, I will sit down and talk with teachers, students, thought leaders, administrators, and philanthropists from across the spectrum. We’ll explore important and relevant educational topics and discuss how to best meet the needs of students so they can thrive.

Already, taking these first steps into podcasting has been engaging, enlightening and fun. I’ve gained insight into neuroscience and the adolescent mind—and found out how trauma can affect brain chemistry, behavior and learning. I’ve heard about students today, from the perspective of the exceptional educators who teach them and from the students themselves as they share some of their struggles and how they worked to overcome them. 

Conversations like these inspire me and provide hope. They are conversations that illuminate how everyday people are making an extraordinary difference. They serve as poignant reminders of the power of dialogue and of the amazing minds in our community and the spirit to do more so that each and every student can thrive. 

I hope you will come along with me on this new adventure. By sharing experiences and listening to many perspectives, we can better solve complex problems and illuminate pathways that students will follow as they head confidently into the future. That’s what I hope to do, one conversation at a time. 

Our first episode drops Aug. 15. 

Jennifer Vigne is president and CEO of the Education Foundation of Sarasota County. 

Photo courtesy Education Foundation: Jennifer Vigne hosting a podcast with Kari Johnson, 2021 Sarasota County Teacher of the Year, and Joe Conner, 2023 Sarasota County Middle School Teacher of the Year.

Education Conversations

For more than a dozen years now, I’ve called Sarasota County home. While I may have lived a longer span of time elsewhere, I feel at home here because of both my love for the location, and even more so because of the people who are welcoming, innovating and caring. Interestingly, the notion of “home” holds more than one meaning: there’s proximity, and then there’s belonging.

The first easily connects us to our neighbors through a sense of place. In philanthropy, this is where we’re able to witness firsthand the impact of volunteerism and charitable contributions that contribute to the overall prosperity of our own hometowns. 

The second is more experiential and defies traditional boundaries. When we encounter someone with similar stories as our own, or that we can sympathize with, we find ways to “pay it forward” to either help spare others a trauma we’ve endured or to help give to others the benefits we’ve enjoyed. The cancer survivor donates to cancer research. The alumnus contributes to the university endowment. The theater patron supports local performances.

August presents an opportunity for neighbors to lend support to our local Black-led and Black-serving nonprofits, which straddle both these definitions of home. Through the sixth-annual Give 8/28, a national giving event supporting Black-managed and Black-benefiting nonprofit organizations presented by Young, Black and Giving Back, Give 8/28 operates much like our local Giving Challenge with an aim of strengthening nonprofits. 

By providing services that help shrink disparities in outcomes for Black people, including educational attainment, health, and prosperity, these nonprofits are uniquely poised to empower the communities they serve. The result: our entire community gets a boost. 

The Community Foundation of Sarasota County has proudly supported the initiative for four years, incentivizing participation of nonprofit organizations with a $275 Kickstarter grant that covers each organization’s registration fee and provides the first donation to their campaigns. 

This year, to increase visibility of this national giving day and the needs it serves, the Community Foundation is partnering with the Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe to host a Give 8/28 community mixer on Aug. 28 from 5-7 p.m., which is free and open to the public. There, guests can meet the people behind the robust Black-led, Black-serving nonprofit community that makes an impact from neighborhoods to national recognition. 

Give 8/28 is one effective way to highlight the contributions of our local Black community and underscore how we each have the power to impact another person, a cause, a community – and in this case, also showcase nationally the breadth of our community. 

Roxie Jerde is President and CEO of the Community Foundation of Sarasota County. 

Photo courtesy Westcoast Black Theatre Troupe.